Metallic belt conveyer



W. E. HUNT. METALLIC BELT CONVEYER.

Patented Feb 10,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. E. HUNT.

METALLIC BELT CONVEYEB.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1a. .1918.

Patented Feb. 10,1920.

. gwuenlot l Wt" @0005 w. E. HUNT.

METALLIC BELT CONVEYERL APPLICATION FILED JUNE 18. 1918.

1 ,330, 1 1 6 Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3- as the description proceeds.

UN TED STATES PATENT, OFFICE; v

' WILLIAM E. HUNT, OF OTTUMWA, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO OTIUMIVA BOX CAR LOADER oro'r'rUMwA, IOWA, A CORPORATION or IOWA.

METALLIC BELT 'CONVEYER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented F eb, 10,

1 Application filed June 18, 1918. Serial No. 240.644.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. HUNT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ottumwa, in the county .of lVapello and State of lowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Metallic Belt Conveyers, of which the following is a specifica- 'tion. r

This invention relates-to an improvement in metallic belt conveyers, proposing a construction which is applicable for the transfer of material in bulk as in loading or unloading operations. The improved conveyer is especially adapted for use as an element of a car loader of the type disclosed in my Letters Patent No. 1,266, 17 5 of May 14, 1918, but it may also be advantageously employed in various other environments and 1n connection with other material handling apparatus. i V

The principal objects of the invention, briefly stated, are to provide a metallic belt conveyor which shall be exceedingly flexible yet shall have great strength and a high degree of pronounced wear-and stress res sting capacity, which shall operate with high e 'ciency in effecting the transport of the material, which shall be driven positively and with a highly efiicient application of the driving force and may be susceptible of operative movement in either direction, which shall operate with a minimum of friction or of frictional binding among or between its elements, which shall avoid loss or leakage ofthe material, which may be manufactured at comparatively low cost, and which is readily adaptable to existing types of material handlinomachines.

\Vith the above objects in View the invention consists generally in a Y conveyer belt made'up of a plurality of transverse plates hingedly connected to one another and in certain novel features of form and relation appertaining to the plates and their hinge joints and which will be set forth in detail The accompanying drawlngs illustrate a preferred embodimentof the invention, the

same being shown, by way of example, as an element of a loader of the type disclosed in my said patent No. 1,266,475.

In the said drawings- Figure 1 is a view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, showing the loader hopper and the belt of the present invention inits relation to said hopper and driving means.

Fig. 2 1s a wow on a somewhat enlarged to its scale, partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, showing details of the belt and its driving means.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the structural features shown in Fig. 2..

Figs. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional views, on the respective lines 4-4 and 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a sectional perspective view of a fragment of the belt.

Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of one of thetransverse plates which forms a unit of the belt structure, the said plate for convenience of illustration being shown in reverse position, i. c. with its under face presented upward.

Similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views. v

The loader in connection with which the invention is disclosed is fully described and illustrated in myaforesaid patent No.

1,266,475 and requires no detail illustrat on or description n the present specification. It 1s, therefore, shown only in such --detail as may be necessary to an underment, the rollers Scarried by said cradle and I which are the direct supporting elements of the ho per, the channeled guides 9 at the sides of t e hopper and in which rollers fit, the rack 4;? associated with one of the feet the lengthwise sliding movements of the hopper 6, the shaft 48 upon which said 7 "pinion is mounted, the loader main frame which carries the cradle 7 and the reversible main shaft 15' which is utilized for the op eration of the material discharging means 13, such means in the present disclosure consisting of the belt which forms the subject of the invention.

The belt 13, 'in the embodiment disclosed, is-driven in one direction by sprockets 19 and in an opposite direction by sprockets 19, mounted on the shaft 15; and said belt is guided and ten'sionedby idle rollers 24: carried' by thecradle 7 and by other idle rollers 26 located at the ends of and below the fioor 9 beads 52 on an adjacent plate. Each plate,

of the hopper 6, one of the rollers 26 being preferably provided with a positionadjusting device 27 for regulating 'the'tens'ion of tion as links, be-ingarranged in immediate juxtaposition and hingedl connected to one another. The hlnge joint etween the plates is preferably and, as shown, of the piano hinge typeand includes apertured beads 51 011 one plate intermatchmg with similar therefore,- has a series of beads 51- along one edge, dlsposed transversely of the belt, and

' a series of beads 52, staggered with relation to the beads 51, along its opposite edge, the beads along each edge of the plate delimiting recesses 53 in which the beads of the adjacent plate fit. The hinge joint is completed by a ing beads 51 and 52.

The material engaging or obverse face A' of the belt is formed in a novel and peculiar fashion in order to insure the most effective transport of the material and is character ized by a succession of transverse and some what closely associated ridges and inter vening valleys, 56, which are preferably gradually defined whereby the said material engaging face has a wave-like contour. The

form of the plates 50 is selected to develop these physical peculiarities of the material engaging face of the belt. As preferred each plate 50 has its material engaging face concave in the longitudinaldirection of the belt, z. e. in a direction at a right angle to the length of the plate itself, whereby the beads along the edges of the plates will form the ridges 55 andthere will be a gradual rise to said ridges from the longitudinal centers (transverse to the belt) of the plates, the

"valleys 55 being deepest along said longitudinal centers. The ridges 55 and valleys 56 insure that the belt shall have an effective grip on the material being transported whether said material be finely divided, such for example, as sulfur lime or crushed or morecomponents disposed at an angle to a horizontal plane. In this respect the belt is especially adaptable as an element of a loader of the type above referred to wherein plates. closed, these'results are due, in part, to the the floor of the per is' curved from end to end of said; hopper and the hopper is slidable in a curved path orasan element of other material handling apparatus wherein it is required or desirable that the material bearing portion of the conveyer shall have a component of its path of movement disposed at an angle to a horizontal plane.

The plates'50 are so formed and related to one another-that lodgment or depositon said plates of the material under transport also the leakage of the material between the belt mayfflex without any appreciable binding within the hinge joints of the As regards the embodiment disgradual outline of the ridges 55 and valleys '56, in part'to the utilizationo'f the beads of the hinge oints to provide the ridges55 *t11(l 111 part to the capacity of the hinge joint to permit of all requisite freedom; of playof the plates relatively to one another as an incident of the flexure of the belt without presentingany interstices of such degree or form as would permit ,ofthe-leakage of the material, if of finely divided character,

between the plates. hinge pin 54 which extends through the alin- 1 The outstanding characteristics of the particular hinge oint disclosed are thecylindrical formof the beads51;and 52,. the arrangement of said beads whereby. their axes he substantially in the central plane-of I bases of the recesses 53 are fashionedto hug and have a conforming, somewhat exten- 1 sive, bearing against the-beads which fit in .sald recesses. For. these purposes the bases of the recesses 52 are concave, as' at 57, through a sultable arc to which the crosssectional curvature of the beads 51' and 52 conforms. r I

The "concave form of the faces of the plates 50 which makeup the face Acf the belt is of further advantage in enabling the saidplates toconform to the curvature of the rollers 24 incident'to the fiexure of the belt in connection with its movement over said rollers. This will be apparent from Fig. 2 which shows three of'the plates, identified'as X, Y and Z, under fiexure by means ofthe rollers 24 and whose faces,

forming parts of the face A of the belt,-

conforms with substantial exactness to the peripheries of the rollers 24. The rollers thus exercise their guiding and tensioning functions with uniformity of effect, with easy bending moments of the plates 50 and with'a minimum of frictional resistance to the plates is avoided while at the same'time the movement of the belt. For-the same purpose and advantage the faces of the plates which make up the reverse face B of the belt are concave'd: similarly to the faces of said plates which make up the material engaging face A, likeiefl'ects" being produced by" the concave units ofit'he' face 15 in connection with the flexureof the beltby the rollers 26 at the ends of the hopper 6,

An important advantage of theinvention is the capacity for utilizing the belt itself for direct coiiperation with the sprockets, whereby the belt may be positively driven, special sprocket chains with their attendant complexities are eliminated, and a highly eflicient application of driving power is achieved. For these purposes the beads of the hinge joints are utilized as abutments for engagement by the teeth of the driving sprockets, this result" being achieved by the provision of recesses 58 in the sprocket engaging face of the belt, such face in the embodiment disclosed being the reverse face B. The recesses 58 are disposed longitudinally of the belt and-extend to the hinge beads which are to be utilized as 'abutments-that is to say, said recesses 58 extend to the recesses 53 with which they aline in the longitudinal direction of the belt; and the teeth'of the driving sprockets enter the recesses 58 and engage as abutments the beads which occupy the recesses 53 to which said recesses 58 extend. \Vhere, as in the embodiment disclosed, provision is to be made for the movement of the belt in either direction, the recesses 58 will be located along both-of the edges, transverse to the belt, ofeach plate 50. While the recesses 58 may be arrangedat any desired intervals transverse to the belt, it is pre ferred that they shall conform in number and arrangement to the recesses '53 and that a corresponding number of driving sprockets shall be provided. In this way, for the drive of the belt in one direction, all the beads 51 or 52, as the case may be, througnout the width of the belt are utilized for the applicationof-driving power and the number of beads so utilized as also the number of sprockets for coeperation with said beads may be selected to bear a definite re-' lation 'to the width of the belt, a greater number of driving sprockets and coeperating abutment-beads being employed as the belt may be of greater width and a less number of driving sprockets and coiiperating beads being employed as the belt may be of less width. It will be manifest that where the width of the belt is relatively considerable three or more driving sprockets may be employed to effect the movement of the belt in one direction, thereby enabling the application of driving power in a like number of planes located at 'in tervals, preferably equidistant, throughout the'width of the belt. W'her'e provision is to be made for the drive of the belt in both directions it is preferred that the sprockets which drive the beltin one direction shall be located in alternation" to the sprockets which drive the belt in the oppo site direction, such an arrangement being shown as applied to the sprockets l9 and 19 in'the embodiment disclosed.

In thefconstruction preferred the belt has at its sides and along its face reverse to its material engaging face longitudinally disposed lugs 59 which extend between the hinge connections of the respective plates and contact with wear strips:60 arranged on and at the sides of the floor of 'the hopper or other element along "which the material bearing portion of. the belt moves. The lugs 59 and strips! 60 co-act whereby the raised portions of the face B, i. e. the hinge beads in the embodiment disclosed, are held spaced from the floor of the hopper, thereby to minimize friction and wear. In connection with the provision of the lugs 59 the rollers 26 are preferably made of less length than the plates 50 in order that said lugs may adjoin the end faces of-said rollers and may he beyond the peripheries thereof,

Having fully described my invention .I

claim- 7 1. A metallic belt conveyer comprising'a plurality of transverse plates hingedly connected along their adjacent edges, each plate having both of its faces formed with length- I Y L wise concave depressions lying centrally between the adjacent connected edges and having hinge beads along said edges in raised relation to said depressions, the said conveyer having its faces, by virtue of said depressions and hinge beads, similarly characterized by a succession of gradually defined transverse ridges and intervening valleys, a group of said plates by virtue of said depressions being conformable during the bending moments of the conveyer to guide rollers therefor and one of the faces of the conveyer functioning as a materialengaging face.

2. A metallic belt conveyer comprising a 1 plurality of transverse plates having apertured h nge beads in staggered relation along their opposite edges, the axes of the beads of each plate lying substantially in said first named recesses and enable the hinge beads fitted therein to function as abutments for cooperation with driving sprockets. I r

3. A metallic belt conveyer combrisinga plurality of transverse plates hingedly connected e along their ad acentf edges, said, plates having Wear lugs attheir ends which extend longitudinally along the face of the belt reverse to the materialfengaging face and alsojextendy,transversely of the 3 plates between the, hinge connections thereof.

A m'eta1lic belt conveyer comprising a plurality of transversejplates hingedly connected along them. adj acent edges, the 'sajid plates having their opposite faces concave in the longitudinal direction of thegbelt whereby their: hinge joints form transverse ridges.

- A -met ll bel convey r pbnipri gla plurality of transverse plats hingedly con- P s av g hei opposite f s. con ve in the longitudinal direction of; the vbelt e by he h ng 1' vint m at a ven e ridges, and having recesses "along; one iace of the belt Wherebythe beads of: said hinge nectedalong their adjacent edges, the;said

joints may function as abutments for cooperation with driving sprockets.

I ,In testi'rnony wherof I have; hereunto.v set 

